A framed structure in any material is one that is made stable by a skeleton that is able to stand by itself as a rigid structure without depending on floors or walls to resist deformation. Materials such as wood, steel, and reinforced concrete, which are strong in both tension and compression, make the best members for compression. Masonry skeletons, which cannot be made rigid without walls, are not frames. The material used for the framed structures wood, steel, and reinforced concrete, which are strong in both tension and compression.


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Types

  1. Heavy timber frame: large posts, spaced relatively far apart, support thick floors and roof beams

  2. American light wood frame (balloon frame): composed of many small and closely spaced members that could be handled easily and assembled quickly by nailing instead of by the slow joinery and dowelling of the past.

  3. Steel framing: based on the same principle but is much simplified by the far greater strength of the material, which provides more rigidity with fewer members. The load-bearing capacity of steel is adopted for buildings many times higher than those made of other materials


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